By Dennis

Pulse development

Up till now, we are fulfilling our proposed schedule and the interface is working as described below. Although we are working separately in each part of the project, we have managed to integrate it all into a satisfactory product so far.

In terms of interface, we’ve worked using the iphone existing interface as a base for our own interface. This way we: -Make the most out of the mental models existing in iphone users. -Don’t need to re-do any distance or size analysis, assuming that apple already did so. Therefore, it’ not up to us to concern about the size of a button to be accesible and easily clickable with the finger.

So, considering the iphone interface as a basic grid and even a palette suggestion (we used some of the iphone standard objects), we built our graphic design to both suggest the objective of our app (a sort of futuristic-bloody video game) and to harmonize with the iphone graphics that are to be present anyway in the screen (the clock, battery charge, next and done).

The only deflection of this norm(apart from the game screen, obviously) is the entry screen, with the “create” and “view invites” buttons. We intended to give a clear signal of being starting our application.

In what changes are concerned, we incorporated all the setup variables of the game into a single screen (this is a change from the paper prototype),since before we didn’t gave any feedback about the settings already set in the game creation, which may have caused confusions or distortions of the intentions of the user. Out of the same problem, we now know too that it would be useful to incorporate an “edit game settings” control that does not deletes the game, but we will not try to incorporate this into this version of the app.

For next week, we will finalize the integration of both coding and graphic work, as reported in the schedule.

Pulse Paper Prototype

During our prototyping we hoped to solidify our designs while at the same time identifying and correcting any flaws that we encountered. We chose to create an oversized representation of our interface to achieve a better simulation and to allow for better observation. Had we kept the prototype the same size as an actual ipod touch/phone we would not have been able to effectively manipulate the quickly changing user interface. For the construction of the interface we used a frame made of foam core and several inserts made of paper and transparent film. We chose to use a frame because we reasoned that our application would have many different screens, and that having a permanent frame would help to simulate the process as a whole. We chose to user paper and film because we found that the different screens and overlays could be created and modified easily.

The major tasks we focused on in our simulation were accepting an invitation, creating a game, and playing the game offensively. Creating a game includes setting the game map, setting the game’s start/run time, inviting players, and selecting teams. Accepting an invitation involves getting a notification, launching the application, reviewing the games you have been invited to, and selecting a game you wish to play. Playing consists of using weapons and scoring by moving onto the hill area.

We tried to make our interface as intuitive as possible. We took great care into our design so that new users could quickly start and accept invitations easily. Thus when we tested our interface we did so in two ways. First we tested the design on one of our own so that we might identify any glaring mistakes. After the initial run we then employed an outside user to use the interface. The process used for both users remained unchanged. During both processes the observers made notes about the challenges the users ran into as well as what questions were asked when they ran into any problems.

In both cases there was minimal instruction allowing the user to scroll through options as they saw fit. First they were presented with a typical ipod touch/phone menu screen. Among the various logos was our own application. Once the user touched the icon for our game they were taken to a screen where they could choose one of two options, Create and Invites. If the user selected Invites they were taken to a second screen that showed the user a game map and gave them information about the game itself such as who made it, and how long the game would last. The user was also presented with the option to accept. At the bottom of the screen appeared tabs that the user could press to see any of the other invites. If the user selected any of the games to play they were then taken to the battle screen.

Creating a game
If the user selected the create option they were then taken to a map screen. Here the user could edit the map’s location by moving their finger in any direction. When the user selected an area they could then set up team bases. At this point the user was presented with red and blue dots. When the user touched a dot and dragged their finger on one side of the field an outline appeared (drawn in wet erase marker) signifying that team’s base. This was done with both colors at which point the user could select the map create button solidifying their selections. Next the user was presented with several options including setting the game’s start time, selecting the game’s run time, and choosing players to invite. Once the options were selected the user was taken to a screen where they could monitor who has accepted and who has declined. At any point the user could select start game. Next the user could choose which players would belong to each team by moving a player icon on their respected camps. Once this task was completed the game would wait until all players reached their base at which point the game would start.

Playing the game
The battle screen contained an overhead view of the game area and showed the location of all players who were playing. The player also had information about their current health and inventory on the screen. Health was represented by a green bar that was depleted or filled depending on if the user was damaged or healed respectively. If the player acquired any weapons the corresponding icon would also appear on their screen. These icon could then be touched to deploy the item instantly. Finally, at the top of the screen was a bar that contained both blue and red. This bar was used to visually illustrate the current score. If for example the red team accumulated time their color would start to dominate the bar pushing the opposing blue team away. For illustration purposes the user just had to indicate where they wanted to move to and the wizard would move their piece to the required location. Had this been a real game the user would have had to physically move to the location they wished. The movement of the other players were illustrated by dragging pieces of metal across the game screen using magnets. The game ended once the specified time expired at which point the user was presented with the outcome of the game. The game also ended when the user wished to stop.

Findings

The animated portions of the prototype are difficult to demonstrate. Our current methods of showing animations are: using icons connected to strips of paper that the wizard could pull and push, drawing with a marker on transparency, using a magnet to move a metal icon around. While these were fun to work with, considering other methods of simulating animation would make the user trials go smoother.

It works if you substitute the chicken for a frictionless orb

The agent-based model of an ant colony provides us with a “glass box” (as opposed to a “black
box”), through which we can examine and observe the operations of the ants, and discuss and
test whether or not hypothesized mechanisms are valid.

As I stated in class, I’m not one of those students that is simply satisfied with being told to use an equation. I have to know why it works. I have to build it using what I know to be true. If I can derive the equation from scratch I know I can do it again any time I wish. If I cannot derive the equation I know that there is a piece of information that I lack and I learn it in the process. If I had simply memorized the equation I would not have found this lack of information. This is probably why I had a deep distrust of physics.

Most physics require the user to not only memorize and equation, but memorize the conditions when such an equation would be accurate. I remember when I was learning about velocity and the force of gravity. Given a force and an angle I was told that I could accurately predict where a projectile would fall. To illustrate this we used nerf guns and predicted where the darts would lie. I tried that dammed experiment several times and the dart never hit my estimate. When I asked the professor about the anomaly he simply stated that it was because we had left out several factors. There was air resistance, the force of friction of the dart against the gun, and the fact that the force used was just an estimate of the true force of the gun. He explained that if I was in a world with frictionless guns and no air that the dart would always hit my estimate. He failed to mention that these conditions do not exist, and, more importantly, that without air I would probably die.

The second paper touched on this concern. While models are a great approximation of the world they often do not take into account things like air resistance. This is troublesome since our world will never lack air. I think that the idea of using sensors to make models true to their natural equivalent is an excellent step in the right direction and keeps these models from assuming things that would never really occur.

Degeneration Response

While reading Degeneration I couldn’t help but think that one day our statistics will also seem ridiculous. Computer memory and storage alone double every 6 months. In fact I remember watching a rerun of friends where Chandler gets a brand new computer. I couldn’t help but laugh as he read off the specs. My Ipod had more computing power than his top of the line computer. It is laughable to think that the same thing won’t eventually happen to our technology. Heck, even my friends reference is showing it’s age. Still, even in those dark ages people managed to get work done.
I find it curious how little we value technology that is considered “outdated”. Old products are cast aside or thrown away in favor of new and flashy models. Sure, to those who can afford it, purchasing new technologies seems to be a logical step, but it’s important to realize that old technologies are still cutting edge to those that cannot afford it. I wonder what would happen if all of the “outdated” computers were donated to the less fortunate instead of simply recycled or thrown away. In the worst case scenario they may not be used (similar to what would have happened anyway). But in the best case scenario someone will have access to technologies (and the affordances they provide) that circumstances would have rendered impossible to attain.

While reading “Models of growth — towards fundamental change in learning environments.” I found it interesting, but not surprising, that process was heavily emphasized. While I attended high school I was a part of 3 major restructuring attempts. This ranged from having 3 vice principles, to having 3 different “Academies”. Did any of these restructures work? Well… I don’t know Maybe it worked at some other school. Maybe the conditions weren’t right at our school. Maybe we didn’t have enough time to see any changes. There are many variables that play into where or not the changes could be considered successful that it’s hard to say how or why things are effective. This is why I think focusing on the process makes sense. Perhaps the point wasn’t that 3 principals would equal a great school, Perhaps the point was that with more vice principals there would be less workload for each which would translate to better management. It’s too bad that most people are content adapting to things that worked in other situations rather than trying to figure out why.

Damn you Rodolph, or Piaget is A ZOMBIE!

A long time ago my brother, Kevin, was explaining one of his beliefs to my mother’s friend, Lisa. Lisa found Kevin’s view of the world amusing and asked him to repeat it. Kevin did so with some hesitation and Lisa was once again amused. I watched as Lisa then gathered a few people and asked Kevin to repeat his view of the world, so that the others might hear. It was at this time that my brother, frustrated that he had to repeat himself again, told his audience, “This lady need’s help. Either she’s dumb, or she can’t hear”.

I am a deep believer in Piaget’s idea that children are not incomplete people, but are instead viewing the world through the mental models they’ve created. Sure Kevin’s mental model of the world may have seemed foreign and amusing, but it was not because he was incapable of understanding the “right” model. After all, he was able to create the model indicating that either Lisa was either incapable of understanding or deaf after being with her for only a short time.

However, to say that all of Piaget’s ideas are infallible would be a mistake. Sure we can develop a mental model for almost anything we come in contact with based what we know. Still, this does not guarantee that our model will be accurate. The is much to gain by actually being in the situation we model. The mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity were designed based on what we knew about Mar’s surface. Even with ideal conditions the rover was not expected to last longer than the time it took to complete the 90 day mission. Yet, for some reason, both rovers work to this day and still send signals back to earth. Obviously we cannot rely simply on generalized models that internalize.

This is not to say that we should ignore our priori models. Rushing into a situation without considering what we know would be unwise. Knowing that tigers eat people, and generalizing the model so that you can assume a tiger would eat you, is probably a model you want to keep. In fact this model would probably prevent you from dying in what would other wise be a very educational experience.

So in short, Piaget is dead but his ideas are not. It is with little hesitation that I say Piaget’s ideas will probably consume the minds of many scholars for years to come. BRAIIIINS!!!!111!!

The far and distant future

I hate the fact that schools still use the drill and kill method to teach subjects. I guess looking back on it it’s kinda difficult to teach the material using another method. The fact that standards still need to be met every year, usually assessed through multiple choice achievement tests, it is not surprising that the drill and kill method is still being used. While the drill and kill has been shown to be far less effective than other methods it still remains the easiest way to present students with material thus fulfilling the absolute minimum job requirement of a teacher.

I guess the reason that I’m being so critical is because I’ve seen programs that have taken similar challenges and have developed engaging ways to present the material. I remember using one of these programs to explore the world around me. The program, wikiworld, used gps positioning and social networking to share a community’s knowledge. With wikiworld I could ask questions about anything in the world around me. All I had to do was stand in the area where the question occurred to me and I could post my question for others to answer. I could later review my question and see what others had suggested as possible answers. For an inquisitive, but shy, person like me this application was perfect. I could ask questions without worrying that people would think I was uneducated.

I could also answer questions that I found scattered about. This was quite possibly the most fun I had with the app. As a kid I had a deep interest in zoology and visited nature reserve by my house as often as I could. One day I used the wikiworld app at the nature reserve and I found that many people had left questions about animals they had seen in the reserve. Naturally I took to answering these questions as best I could, and many times my answer was selected as the best. When I found a question that I didn’t know the answer to I would quickly scan any posts that were left as possible solutions and then searched for the answer on wikipedia, at the library, and within my own books for the answers. I remember how addicting it was to search for posts left by others. In many ways I feel wikiworld worked as a catalyst to expend my knowledge.

It is amazing to think that this effective means of teaching was executed on such meager technology as an Ipod touch. The wifi connection was atrocious, and memory capabilities were quite limited. Still even with this technology that is now capable of running on our paper I learned so much. It’s a shame that these holograms, realtime streaming, and tactile feedback which are now commonplace in our schools and homes are used simply used to drill and kill information. It’s a shame that even though our technology has changed so much, our thoughts on education have changed so little.

-Ender Connor

The Light table

So with all this coding i haven’t paid much attention to the light table component. The development of this project has taken up a great deal of my time and I’m struggling to finish it in time. The projection table in particular has been difficult to create. My prototypes have been made out of cardboard boxes and i have been trying to find out what materials can be projected onto it, but can still read the markers from the other side. So far, cloth and regular paper has not worked. I will try tracing paper tomorrow. I managed to get my external camera running by installing a third party driver. However the driver does not play nicely with the reactivision program and is too choppy to work. I will look into another webcam tomorrow.

Do my bidding!

Finished implementing the first couple of commands for my logoblocks project. Forward and Backwards now move a third always present block(the turtle) across the screen. The turn command, however, is giving me some problems. In theory simply setting the turtle’s angle to that of a given block should be easy. However, when rendering, there seems to be some other actions taking place. These other actions are not simply changing my turtle’s rotation, but causing it to spin, sometimes quite rapidly. hopefully this will be resolved soon.

getting the objects to be recognized

Spent a lot of time reading the api for the TuioObjects and how they are received. I was able to create a program that, similar to the example, draws the recognized blocks onto a screen and tags them with a number. This wasn’t too difficult but given the fact that I am doing what others have done before, and that I can ask questions about my approach. When I further develop this to do things that others have not tried i expect there to be problems.

Initial steps to making a tangible coding interface

working on making the feducial recognition interface work. Turns out my external camera isn’t fast enough. Perhaps I will have to order a new one, or somehow use the built in camera.